What a weekend! I had the great opportunity to go to the Chicago Bridal Market. What an exciting time! I'm still feeling a little bit of the dress overload. When I arrived on Saturday, I was just in time for the evening fashion show. What fun that was! We enjoyed some cocktails and bites and then the show began. Forty-five minutes of gorgeous gowns; wedding dresses, bridesmaids and mothers gowns and even prom and really fancy evening gowns. It was a lot to take in. Of course, as much fun as this was, it was nothing compared to what I was getting into the next day. And I had no idea.

Sunday was sensory overload. When I arrived at the Merchandise Mart, I was expecting to find my associates right away. Of course, life never happens the way you expect, and so I was left to wonder around on my own for a little while. I'm not sure how I would describe the market. As I stepped off the elevator, I had to options, go right, which was full of color, sparkles so bright you needed sunglasses, and brightly color banners and signs (this was the prom section). To my left, everything was white, ivory, soft and demure, black accents, and rows and rows of white bridal gowns. Of course, everyone wants to get your attention. If you're an established buyer, most of the design houses know who you are, they greet you, hug you, offer to show you anything. Me, however, I was viewed as a brand new buyer. Here they came with a bag, filled with papers, pens, anything you might need to order their product, they ask who you're with, would you like a seat, can I get a water, food, would you like to see a dress on the runway. The list goes on and on. The houses also do something called informal modeling. You tell them which dress you want to see, they'll have the models change for you so you can see what it looks like on a body. Of course, they have dresses on dress forms as well, but this way you can see how they move and wear. It was really quite something. I think I've collected 6 or 7 bags of goodies. I pretty much ate my way through each booth. My associates were always one booth ahead of me, but I was happy to take my time looking and absorbing everything.

All in all, it was definitely an experience. I can't wait until the next one and I hope that I am able to go. Seeing the new designers also motivates me to get my own line finished and to make more and more gowns so that one day I may be one of the booth holders and asking people to buy my gowns. Until then, I have a lot of sewing to do.